Glass chiller



R. S. TICE GLASS CHILLER Filed April 4, 1966 ATTORNEYS May 21, 1968 United States Patent O 3,383,879 GLASS CHILLER Reuben S. Tice, Monterey, Calif., assigner to Chill Master Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of California Fiied Apr. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 540,063 Z Claims. (Cl. til-293) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLSURE Apparatus having a housing enclosing a container of liquid refrigerant under pressure and a discharge nozzle projecting above said table in communication with the interior of said container and with a valve, the latter being operably connected with said valve for actuating the latter to discharge said liquid refrigerant from said nozzle and into an inverted glass on said table and over said nozzle upon depressing the latter for thereby cooling said glass.

Heretofore, as shown in my U.S. Patents 2,5 87,075 and 2,749,715 the general principle of cooling a cocktail glass, by supporting the glass in inverted position on a horizontally disposed platform, and actuating a valve, by depressing the platform for discharging a vaporizable liquid refrigerant centrally of the platform into the bowl of the cocktail glass for cooling and frosting the glass, has been used. The apparatus shown in said patents was adapted for use as a commercial bar unit where a relatively large supply of the refrigerant was available and could be stored in a container in the basement or under a counter and piped to the point of discharge into the glasses.

The present invention is particularly suitable for home bar use in that each unit is small and portable from user to user or to different locations, since each unit includes its own supply of the liquid refrigerant under pressure in a quickly replaceable conventional aerosol can or container that includes a discharge nozzle on its upper end and which nozzle is adapted to be depressed for opening a valve for discharge of the refrigerant through the nozzle.

In such home bar unit, a less efficient liquid refrigerant than liquid CO2 is normally employed, one example of which is dichlorodiiiuoromethane orone of the group of uorochloromethanes and ethanes, commonly known as Freon. The ability of the container to safely withstand the gas pressure developed within the container is one consideration as to the particular refrigerant that may be used.

In refrigerante, such as Freon, it is common for a surplus of the refrigerant or unexpanded fluid in liquid form to drain from the inner surface of an inverted cocktail or other glass, when the refrigerant is discharged into the bowl from the nozzle of an aerosol can containing the refrigerant. Where the refrigerant is ejected to impinge only the central portion of the inverted bowl, this drainage forms drain lines on the inner surface of the bowl, resulting in undesirable uneven frosting of said surface.

Another cause of uneven frosting of a glass by expansion of a liquid refrigerant within an inverted glass is the lack of a proper sealing Contact between the platform or table in engagement with the rim of the inverted glass. Such leakage usually occurs where the surface of the platform engaged by the edge of the glass is planar and ice from a previous frosting operation forms on the upper surface of the platform along the edges of the previously frosted edges.

In actual use, it should be noted that the liquid refrigerant in liquid form is destructive to the finish on furniture, hence it is essential that no drainage of the liquid refrigerant should be where it may contact the surface of a table or other furniture.

Mice

One of the objects of this invention is the provision of a small, portable, self-sufficient home bar glass chilling unit that is free from the objections above mentioned.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means in a home bar unit having an aerosol container of a liquid refrigerant, for more efliciently distributing and atomizing the liquid refrigerant upon its ejection into a cocktail glass.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a small, portable, self-sufficient home bar glass chilling unit that incorporates a horizontally disposed table depressible by downward movement of an inverted cocktail glass thereover in engagement with the lip of such glass, for actuating a centrally positioned valve for releasing the liquid refrigerant into the inverted glass, and which unit includes means for cooling the liquid refrigerant within the container by a portion of the ejected refrigerant to thereby aid in the expansion of liquid to gas and consequent greater cooling capacity.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description and drawings.

In the drawings,

FIG.1 is a reduced size side elevational View of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. l, the bowl of a cocktail glass being indicated in inverted position on the device.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of FIG. l.

FIG. 4 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of a portion of the upper end of the valve and nozzle arrangement on the device shown in FIG. 2 when the cocktail glass is depressed.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary modified cross sectional view of a portion of the liquid distributing nozzle.

In the drawings, an aerosol can or container is generally designated 1 (FIG. 2) which container has cylindrical side walls 2, an upwardly dished bottom wall 3, and a generally pyramidal top wall 4 that is centrally provided with a cap 5 (FIG. 4). Cap 5 has a depressed central portion, centrally formed with an upwardly projecting valve housing 6 that, in turn, has a top wall `7 and lateral `downwardly extending sides S that are integral with the lower wall 9 of the depressed central portion of cap 5.

The top wall 7 of the valve housing 8 coacts with side walls S that are integral with wall 7 to provide the upper portion of the valve housing, the lower portion comprising a cylindrical wall 1t) that projects upwardly into said recess and that is rigidly secured to walls 8, and a centrally apertured washer 13 of rubber or the llike is secured by wall 10 against the top wall 7 of the housing 6. The cylinder 10 is preferably of a suitable, relatively rigid plastic material, and may be cemented to wall 8 or secured to the latter in any other suitable manner, against withdrawal such as by indenting the wall 8 into the plastic wall 10 at a plurality of points 14 around wall 10.

A tubular downwardly projecting nipple 15 is formed integrally with, and opens into a lower end wall 16 on the lower end of the cylindrical wall 10.

The upper wall 7 of the housing 6 is centrally apertured to register with the central aperture in the Washer 13, an upwardly projecting tube 17 that is open at its upper end and closed at its lower end slidably extends through the central apertures in washer 13 and the top wall 7, the lower closed end of said tube 17 has a radially outwardly extending flange 18 that, in turn, is integral at its outer edges with the upper edges of a downwardly projecting cylindrical wall 19 that is open at its lower end.

Thus wall 19 is relatively loose within the cylindrical wall 10 so as to permit fluid to pass upwardly between walls 9 and 10 from the nipple 15 into the space between washer 13 andthe ange 13 when the tube 17 is depressed to move flange 18 downwardly away from washer 13. A helical spring 20 reacts between the flange 18 and the lower end 1d of the valve housing to guidably urge the flange 18 into sealing relation with the washer 13. The vertical length of the cylinder 19 is substantially shorter than the vertical length of the wall 10, hence the cylindrical wall 19 may be moved downwardly upon moving the upwardly projecting tube 17 downwardly against the resistance of spring 20.

The cylindrical wall 19 and flange 18 may be called the valve member and which valve member is vertically reciprocable within the valve housing while the tube 17 may be called the discharge nozzle. A small side port 23 is formed in the lower end of the tube, or nozzle 17, at a point adjacent to and above flange 18 on the valve member to permit fluid entering the nipple 15 under pressure, to pass into the tube or nozzle 17 for discharge from the latter. A tube 22, also preferably of plastic, is secured at its upper end to nipple 15, and extends substantially to the bottom wall 3 to enable exhaustion of the liquid refrigerant from the can.

The receptacle or can 1 is fully enclosed within an outer housing generally designated 24, having vertically extending side walls 25 and a bottom wall 26 substantially integral therewith. Three vertically extending equally spaced can centering and supporting ribs 27 (FlG. 3) rigid with wall 25 extend radially inwardly from said wall 25, so that the can 1 may be merely dropped into the upper open end of the housing 24 and it will be automatically centered within the housing and will be held centrally within the latter. The Lipper ends of ribs 27 may be bevelled, as at 28 (FlG. 2) to facilitate guiding the can to its central position within the housing. A downwardly dished platform 29 having a concave upwardly facing surface extends over the upper open end of housing 24.

Said platform is preferably of relatively rigid plastic material and is formed with a downwardly projecting flange 30 that, in turn, is adapted to relatively loosely extend downwardly over the upper laterally facing marginal portion of the wall 2S of housing 24. The central portion of the platform 29 is formed with an upstanding tubular projection generally designated 33 having a vertically extending passageway 34 thereon, which passageway is counterbo-red at its lower end to slidably receive the upper end of nozzle 17 therein so that the upper end of said nozzle will engage the axially downward-ly facing shoulder 35 upon positioning the platform over the upper end of the housing 24.

The concave upwardly facing upper surface of the platform 29 is adapted to engage the lip or edge of any standard inverted glass from a small glass for an afterdinner drink to a relatively large champagne glass. The bowl of a cocktail glass is indicated in FG. 2 in dot-dash lines at 36. Spaced outwardly of the central projection 33 on the platform 29 are a plurality of drain openings 37 equally spaced from each other. The spacing of these openings from projection 33 is such that all of said openings will be within the diameter yof a bowl 36 of the smallest sized glass to be chilled, while the outer diameter of the platform 29 is such that it will project beyond a bowl of the maximum diameter glass.

The upper end of projection 34 is formed with a relatively small diameter discharge port 38, and horizontally or laterally opening ports 39, also of small diameter are formed in the walls of passageway 34. The ports 38 may be in vertically spaced sets with the openings in each set equally spaced around the passageway 34, and circular deliection fins 4t) project laterally outwardly and angularly upwardly between the openings of each set so that'the inclined upper surfaces of the fins will be deflected angularly upwardly from ports 39 for both breaking up the liquid and distributing it over the inner surface of the glass, such as indicated at 3, when the valve in the can 1 is opened.

The passageway 34 and ports 39 are such that the liquid refrigerant ejected into the passageway will be substantially instantly ejected from the ports 39 under substantial pressure, but the projection 33 which becomes part of the discharge nozzle preferably projects a substantial distance above the center of the plate or platform 29, and into the glass being frosted. As an example of the ports 39, these may be substantially equal, in diameter, to that of a No. 74 or 76 drill, and could be formed by molding the plastic around wires that later are withdrawn.

The flange 3i) ion the plate or platform 29 while sulficiently loose to prevent binding on the walls 2S when cooled and contracted, prevents a buildup of pressure within the housing 24, and also it acts as a guide for the reception of the nozzle 17 into the lower end of passageway 34 in the upper extension 33 of the discharge nozzle.

The convex lower surface of the plate or platform 29 will function to drain any liquid that may hang from the drain openings 38 should the unit be tilted during or after use thereof.

The openings 37 may be closer to the center of the plate or platform 29, if desired, but in either present position, as shown, any drainage of the liquid will be deposited on the top 4 of the can 1 where it will evaporate to effect a cooling of the refrigerant to thereby increase the cooling efficiency of the ejected refrigerant.

The exact arrangement and number of fins 4t) and ports 39 may vary from a single fin and ports thereabove to a plurality thereof, as shown in FIG. 4.

In the modified form of the nozzle portion on plate or platform 29 as seen in FIG. 5 the projection 43 that is similar to projection 33 in FIG. 4, may be provided with a central passageway 44 of progressively decreasing diameter in an upward direction with the side ports 45 generally horizontally extending, and in this instance the tins 46 may be fewer in number than in FIG. 4, and upper end ports 47 are at a relatively steep angle relative to horizontal so as to eject the refrigerant against the upper surface of the inverted bowl, and the upper end port such as shown at 38 in FIG. 4 may be omitted.

The taper of the sides of passageway 44 is such as to insure ejection of the liquid into the glass at a substantially uniform pressure from the different ports. The concave upper surface of the plate or platform 29 insures the desired lip seal between the edge or lip of the glass and the platform, and instant drainage of liquid refrigerant away from the lip, and this concave surface also con tributes to holding the glass against slippage during downward pressure thereon to actuate the valve. The material of the plate 29 is preferably of plastic and preferably of a character that resists slippage of the glass thereon.

It should be noted that, as expansion of the refrigerant takes place within glass 36, the provision of openings 37 insures against pressure developing within the inverted glass that otherwise would retard such expansion. The openings 37 thus provide a means for relieving pressure within the inverted bowl that is on the plate 29 thereby contributing to a rapid expansion of the refrigerant within the bowl.

It is to be understood that the embodiments herein described are illustrative and not descriptive, and it is also to be understood that the invention may be susceptible of embodiment in other modified forms and that all such modifications which are similar or equivalent hereto come D equally within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A glass chiller comprising, in combination,

(a) a housing having a bottom wall, vertically disposed side walls having free upper edges, and a top wall having a marginal portion extending across said free upper edges, and a flange depending from and rigid with said top wal] over the outer sides of said side walls in vertically .movable telescopic relation to the upper portion of said side walls, and a central opening formed in said top wall, on its central axis,

(b) said top wall having an upper surface inclined upwardly from said central axis for providing a lip seal between the edges of an inverted cocktail glass or the like when such edges are in engagement with said surface and for draining liquid on said surface toward said axis,

(c) an aerosol can containing an expandable liquid refrigerant under pressure supplied within said housing, said can having an upwardly projecting central portion including a depressible Valve element activatable for upward discharge of said refrigerant upon depression Iof said valve element,

(d) said top wall being supplied around said opening on said valve element in a position in which said marginal portion of said top wall is spaced above said free edges, whereby depression of said top wall under downward pressure of such inverted glass on said top wall will depress said valve element for effecting a discharge of such refrigerant into such glass for expansion within the latter and consequent cooling thereof,

(e) a plurality of radially inwardly projecting, vertically extending ribs within said housing for automatically centering said can within said housing upon insertion of such can into the upper end of said housing upon removal of said top wall, and

(f) means including said ange for automatically centering said valve element within said openings upon positioning said top wall over said side walls and can when the latter is centrally supplied within said housing.

2. A glass chiller comprising, in combination,

(a) a housing having a bottom wall, vertically disposed side walls having free upper edges, and a top wall having a marginal portion extending across said free upper edges, and a flange depending from and rigid with said top wall over the outer sides of said side walls in vertically movable telescopic relation to the upper portion of said side walls, and a central opening formed in said top walls, on its central axis,

(b) said top wall having an upper surface inclined upwardly from said central axis for providing a lip seal between the edges of an inverted cocktail glass or the like when such edges are in engagement with said surface and for draining liquid on said surface toward said axis,

(c) an aerosol can containing an expandable liquid refrigerant under pressure supplied within said housing, said can having an upwardly projecting central portion including a depressible valve element activatable for upward discharge of said refrigerant upon depression of said valve element,

(d) said top wall being supplied around said opening on said valve element in a position in which said marginal portion of said top wall is spaced above said free edges, whereby depression of said top wall under downward pressure of such inverted glass on said top wall will depress said valve element for effecting a discharge of such refrigerant into such glass for expansion within the latter and consequent cooling thereof,

(e) deilection means on said top wall in a position for impingement by liquid refrigerant discharged from said valve member upon said depression of the latter for defiecting said refrigerant against the inner surface of an inverted glass where the latter is on said top wall, and for atomizing said liquid refrigerant to promote expansion thereof, and

(f) said deflection means including an upward projection centrally on said top wall having a vertically upwardly extending passageway for liquid discharged from said valve member and laterally directed discharge ports communicating with said passageway, and deflections on said projection spaced outwardly of said ports and across the latter for said impingement.

References Cited UNiTED STATES PATENTS 2,587,075 2/1952 Tice 62-62 2,749,715 6/1956 Tice 62-62 3,000,195 9/1961 Federighi 62-64 X 3,257,821 6/1966 Warner 62-457 X ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

W. E. WAYNER, Assistant Examiner. 

